|
 His
See Details
And
Hers
(Porsche
Cayenne)
|
| The largest selling Porsche is the Cayenne.
Great car. Not many "upgrades" planned but the few tried caused
some concern about information and "knowledge" available from the
Dealer or the Net. |
| First: Trailer Hitch Wiring
Thought the factory hitch that came as an installed option
could be useful to pull our small trailer. The Cayenne has a towing
capacity of 7,716 pounds. The hitch is a $650 option. It
comes with a cover plate that fits over the electrical terminals and needs an
adapter to function. The rear of the cover is shown on the right.
The wire harness is attached to the recess in the rear (photo.) After
removing the screws holding it in place, remove the white clip to release the wiring
harness. |
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|
Purchased a Pollak Receptacle and matching Plug. Both
for ~$10.00 on eBay. Was advised by Pollak to use some Dielectric
Grease to prevent corrosion. Our small trailer uses a 4 pin plug; $2.00
locally for one with wires attached.
The female terminals are covered
by a spring loaded door. |
 |
|
 Wired the Pollak Plug
to the 4 Pole Trailer Plug. Key was to use the numbering photo right, NOT the wire
colors.
Pollak mentioned there are two types of pins, round and flat. That is why Porsche
does not install the receptacle. It depends on what is on the trailer. |
 |
| Tried to measure voltage with a VOM (digital
meter.) However Porsche monitors the trailer lights and IF there is
nothing connected it opens the relays that power the receptacle.
Bottom line no power until the trailer is connected so there is no voltage
reading! All kinds of excuses found on the NET; need new programming,
need a special box etc etc. Actually all that is needed is a
load from a bulb! Interesting when I wired the plug using colors (since the
numbers are hard to see) got a "CHECK TRAILER LIGHTS" statement on the
dash LCD panel. |
 Second:
"Obstacle Detector"Purchased a wireless remote "Obstacle Detector"
that installs in the trailer hitch. It activates when the car is in
reverse getting its power from the Trailer Wiring Harness. They supply
a 7 pin connector that fit the Pollak Plug purchased. However there
was no power to the center Reverse Light terminal- - you guessed it until
you hook up a trailer! |
 The
Solution-make the receptacle think there is a trailer attached!
Connected three 390 ohm resistors from the while ground terminal inside the
receptacle to the Right and Left Turn Signal and Running Light Terminals.
Worked partially +12 volts on the Back-up Light Terminal when the car
is put in Reverse. However a "Check Trailer light" error appeared on
the dash!Decided to splice into the backup light wiring. Now to
find a place to route the wire! Not easy since the compartment is
sealed. May have to drill a hole to the "outside." |
 No
room to store a small trailer? This one is suspended above my
Corvette! Used two sets of two double pulleys which cuts the weight
needed to pull up the 200 pound trailer to 25 to 30 pound pull on each of
the two ropes holding it up! Large hooks are screwed into 2 x 6
wood beams in the ceiling. Don't rely on a stud finder, use a finish nail
to be sure you find both edges of the 2 x 6 and screw the hooks in the
center! Single pulleys and hooks are screwed into the ceiling joist
near the wall to route the ropes to cleats on the wall. |
 Third:
Floor and Cargo Mats
Installed "WeatherTech" Floor and Cargo Mats. Great product.
Custom fit for the car. Was concerned about the gas peddle area to be
sure it did not cause "unintended acceleration !" No need to worry
they fit perfectly with no interference (see the Photo inset.) They even use
the floor pins to properly locate the front mats.
All of the mats fit like a glove. |
| Fourth:
Headlights
 Was
not happy that the Cayenne did not come with HID lamps. Spoiled by the
Corvette. The Corvette even has H9 65W high beams. The Cayenne has only
55W H7's for both regular and high beams. However Osram (Sylvania)
sells clear high output bulb that uses a H9 (2100 lumens) filament & Xenon gas
boost light output in a H7 bulb. It has approximately 190% more light output compared to standard 55W
H7 halogen. It can be used with stock wiring since it is only about
0.8 amps more per bulb. They use UV Block glass so it will not yellow the plastic
headlight covers. For the standard beam they are 18% more watts that legally allowed.
But for bights they are fine. Life is about the same as standard H7's.
Replaced all 4 bulbs. Not hard
just followed the owners manual directions using the Porsche supplied tool. These are not a funny blue
color, they look like the standard light but brighter. The Cayenne
uses all 4 bulbs on high beam. Now it lights up our 2 mile dark twisty
road near the house just as well as the Vette! Great low cost
investment |
